عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Manga Launches New Set of Videogames on Various Platforms

Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
TT
TT

Manga Launches New Set of Videogames on Various Platforms

Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)

Manga Productions, an affiliate of the Mohammed bin Salman MiSK Foundation, organized an event called “XP” in Riyadh to launch new videogames across various gaming platforms.
An elite group of media figures, influential content creators, and stakeholders attended the event. It aimed to engage with the players' community in the Kingdom through gaming experiences, exclusive content, and thought-provoking meetings.
CEO of Manga Productions Company Dr. Essam Bukhari expressed his pride in launching the new games and in the achievements of Saudi talents at the global level in content creation and production, such as “The Journey” and “Legends in the Coming of Time”.
He also highlighted successes in the distribution and anime licenses for both Grendizer and Captain Tsubasa.
Bukhari stated that the company is proud to publish three games in the Middle East and become the first Saudi company to publish AAA games by young Saudis, adding that investing in them and believing in their abilities is the strategic choice for regional and global competition.
The games include “Space Adventures Grendizer: Feast of the Wolves”, “The Smurfs 2: Prisoner of the Green Jewel”, and “Flashback 2”.
The “Grendizer” game is an epic adventure and a journey that explores the most famous landmarks and characters within the fantastic world created by “Go Nagai”, the author of the original series.
Players can also discover a fictional world of surprises in “The Smurfs 2” and help the famous Smurfs characters rid their world of green gem monsters.
In the second installment of the game, “Flashback 2”, players prepare to embark on a new mission with Conrad and Aisha in a cyberpunk world full of danger, mystery, and lost memories. The first installment of the game was launched in 1992 and sold more than 2 million copies.

Most Viewed

 
 
Technology

US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
TT
TT

US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)

The Justice Department late Friday filed its response to TikTok's civil suit aimed at derailing a law that would force the app to be sold or face a US ban.

TikTok's suit in a Washington federal court argues that the law violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

The US response counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is not able to claim First Amendment rights here.

The filing details concerns that ByteDance could, and would, comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users or yield to pressure to censor or promote content on the platform, senior justice department officials said in a briefing.

"The goal of this law is to ensure that young people, old people and everyone in between is able to use the platform in a safe manner," a senior justice department official said.

"And to use it in a way confident that their data is not ultimately going back to the Chinese government and what they're watching is not being directed by or censored by the Chinese government."

The response argues that the law's focus on foreign ownership of TikTok takes it out of the realm of the First Amendment.

US intelligence agencies are concerned that China can "weaponize" mobile apps, justice department officials said.

"It's clear that the Chinese government has for years been pursuing large, structured datasets of Americans through all sorts of manner, including malicious cyber activity; including efforts to buy that data from data brokers and others, and including efforts to build sophisticated AI models that can utilize that data," a senior justice department official said.

TikTok has said the demanded divestiture is "simply not possible" -- and not on the timeline required.

The bill signed by President Joe Biden early this year set a mid-January 2025 deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a US ban.

The White House can extend the deadline by 90 days.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide," said the suit by TikTok and ByteDance.

- TikTok shutdown? -

ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the lawsuit, which will likely go to the US Supreme Court, as its only option to avoid a ban.

"There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025," the lawsuit said, "silencing (those) who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

TikTok first found itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's attempt, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches, and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection.

"We view the statute as a game changer from the arguments that were in play back in 2020," a senior justice department official said.

There are serious doubts that any buyer could emerge to purchase TikTok even if ByteDance would agree to the request.

Big tech's usual suspects, such as Facebook parent Meta or YouTube's Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns, and others could not afford one of the world's most successful apps used by about 170 million people in the United States alone.